Saturday at Three Palms

[Paddy]

I attended the races at TPS this past Saturday. I was in the pits. Which by the way I was able to just walk in, no one in the pit booth. ( I did go back and sign in & pay ) , 28 cars, which included Go Karts, and 3 Outlaw Fours. The heat was brutal. The Porta Lets had not been emptied and both stunk to high heaven. I felt sorry for and ladies and little girls who had to use them. Trash cans not emptied , not even set up.
No PA in the pits so I had to rely on the score board for qualifying times, not every time was posted and the ones that were posted were not always correct.
No organization in the pits, took forever to get line ups posted.
THE SAFETY LIGHTS DID NOT WORK!!!! The track lights in turn two were not working.
What can I say a track with so much potential is now a laughing stock.

[Weftracing96]

These jokers are broke. Plain and simple. They have zero capital in which to follow through with their vast myriad of promises. To give a low brow example, this situation takes me back to an episode I saw of The Simpsons when I was a young fella. The town has a budget surplus and a slick talking con man (the Hasse's) talks the rubes (airport authority) into purchasing a monorail for the town. Well, the monorail is a piece of garbage, and fails to deliver on any of the promises on which it was sold. The question is, how long will the airport authority continue to bury their collective heads in the sand before they actually take action and take the necessary legal steps to run these crooks out of town? At least Pam Seay sternly addressed the issues involving the track at the last airport meeting. But there needs to be a collective movement by the entire board, otherwise, the Hasse family will continue to just drag it out and squat like a foreclosed home owner as long as they can manage to do so.

[scottgarrity07]

I don't understand why they are even hosting events if they are run this half assed now. No track lights in turn two (sound familiar?) and no safety lights is just plain unsafe. Coupled with no insurance, who wants to take the risk? They shouldn't even be allowed to run!

[Paddy]

I see TPS has scheduled races for this Saturday ( 7-18 ) . My question is have they resolved the issues with the Safety Lights not working and the lights that are out in turn two?? To me these are very significant and potentially dangerous problems to have. Is their Insurance co. and the Airport Authority aware they are putting on races with what could be a big liability issue if a serious accident happened??

[scottgarrity07]

I see TPS has scheduled races for this Saturday ( 7-18 ) . My question is have they resolved the issues with the Safety Lights not working and the lights that are out in turn two?? To me these are very significant and potentially dangerous problems to have. Is their Insurance co. and the Airport Authority aware they are putting on races with what could be a big liability issue if a serious accident happened??

From what I hear there's no worries there since I'm told there's no insurance either.

[OldSchool+]

Do we need to raise bail for Bobby Diehl?

Did the short bus make it back?

Whahappen to the report on the Grande' Meeting?

[scottgarrity07]

Do we need to raise bail for Bobby Diehl?

Did the short bus make it back?

Whahappen to the report on the Grande' Meeting?

Airport Authority decided to kick the can down the road. But they are seriously "concerned". Gotta love gubment.

I guess you missed this thread OS...

http://www.realracinusa.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=32829

[OldSchool+]

So, run at your own risk if you choose.

Some will go, because racers are by and large...guys...

You heard about the Darwin Award winning member that lit a mortar in a tube and placed it on his head on the fourth?

It was his very last mistake.

[dragman]

Three Plams

So You Are Telling Me That Spats Just Wanted The Money From A Track That Is Not Making Any And Is Unsafe For Not Having Any Insurance,,,

[OldSchool+]

But isn't it optional to give him money?

[dragman]

three palms

So you're telling me that a good man would have told the track to keep the money And spats could have paid out of his Pocket..

[OldSchool+]

If I have it correctly, you are stating that "Spats" owes a boatload, er, cargo plane load of cash to the airport authority, is running a race in a field with asphalt on it, with poor lighting & no insurance.

Further, if "Spats" was a man of integrity he would hand the cash to the creditors and pay the purse himself.

If I have that wrong, please clarify.

If it is right, it again is what it is. If the government kicked the can down the road and it is "legal", why not?

There are plenty of folks living in homes in foreclosure rent free, and so on.

But, as before, if his integrity and/or the other conditions are unacceptable, no one has to hand him a dime.

[Bobby Diehl]

Sorry Old School.

Do we need to raise bail for Bobby Diehl?

Did the short bus make it back?

Whahappen to the report on the Grande' Meeting?

Sorry Old School. I thought you read all the post. This one just said "Bobby Diehl". My bad sorry to leave you sitting without an answer (no grand stand or soap boxes......

Well we all know how fast the Government works. The June meeting the Speedway was on the agenda. The Charlotte County Air Port Authority Commissioners (one Commissioner was not there Pam Seay) had questions about the Grand Stands and where the were. The lease requires a LARGE security deposit to secure the Charlotte County Air Port Authority (CCAA) property. From what I heard was that they waved the security deposit ($70,000.00 in lieu of them buying and installing the Grand Stands, a new safety fence, and restore all the kitchen equipment, and everything to complete the track as a working track) and leaving them at the end of the lease. The rent was waved till they ran the first Stock Car race (meaning that all the safety requirement were meet). But during that meet other questions arose from the discussion from the Speedway spokesman about why the stands are still not up????? Some of the issues that came out was:
1. Taxes (County Property taxes) all property leased from Federal properties our responsible for local taxes (the speedways is about $19,000.00 per year). Last taxes were paid in 2010 (outstand tax's at this point $69,000.00+ and the Count Tax collector was wanting to collect, I was told that the current operators only owed $36,000.00+ range).
2. Permitting (for the Scoring Tower, Grandstands , and other code question).
3. Living on the property (in the lease in states no permanent living aloud on the property) still an issue they are looking into.
4. Insurance coverage of competitors (of any type on the race track property) and naming the CCAA as coverage on the contacts) is stated on their lease.
5. There was a group that put in the Safety Fence and were in the process of taking legal action on a $80,000.00 outstands (they said that was along with getting a bad check for their payment) debt on the fence. This group was interested in taking over the lease (The CCAA did say the lease is transferable) and has the resources to get the Grand Stands and other items to get the track complete.

At the end of the June meeting the CCAA said they would let their Attorney (CCAA) look into all the areas of the lease. And a dead line need to be put in place.

This months agenda didn't have the Speedway on it. So at the end old items that the public view as not being complete from the last months meeting is allowed to address. There were several race Team at the meeting to see what the outcome might be (the speedway was their home track and they won't race there under the current operators).
I spoke from being part of the South West Motorsports Community. After I spoke and Pam Seay (the missing Commissioner from last months meeting) suggested that even more problems needed to be address.
1. Taxes need to be paid. The CCAA had a meeting schedule with Vickie Potts (Charlotte County Tax Collector) and I haven't heard the outcome.
2. Permitting still need to be completed.
3. Insurance (CCAA very concerned about their exposures) and proof prior to any event.
4. The Grandstands where are they and why are they still not up?
5. Two large piles of old race tires (1000+++ tires) that causes a health problems to the Fans during the events.
6. Permanent living on the property on property within the lease agreement?
7. Scoring Tower being used before Code are meet.

So next meeting we will all see their (CCAA) demands on the Speedway.

Sorry I am still waiting for the answers for the Tax meeting to let you know. As the other Teams asked? Why this being one of only a few asphalt tracks left in Florida and that they (CCAA) own the speedway property and have a reasonability to the Motorsports Community to keep it as a working speedway (with grand stands and the other issues) for them (who have a lot of money tied you in their Teams) and the rest on the County for revenue to the other local businesses.

I sure this will stir up a lot of question from the reading, but we need to keep as many tracks as possible working to keep our Sport alive...

Remember you can get the meeting minutes taken of what was said.

[exnyer]

You can read the minutes here OS, just click on the June 11th meeting minutes

www.flypgd.com/meetingminutes

[OldSchool+]

Bob B. Diehl did a lot-o-commenting.

So did "Luther Lee Fitch". Never mind the racers racin' without lights or insurance, that I can understand. Mr Fitch is owed plenty of money apparently, is responsible for the fence that the commission wanted, apparently has more money to lose(er, invest), and has racing "help" in the wings.

And yet, they did essentially...nothing?

The darn kumbaya system has done failed us again!?

Finally, Phil can direct his angst legitimately at "Florida"!